Some 30 members of the militant Jewish Defense League were forcibly evicted by the police from the Finnish Embassy today after they invaded the Embassy offices demanding a halt to all Russian trials against Jews. Police had to drag out the activists after all attempts by Embassy officials to persuade them to leave quietly failed, and in the process police detained 10 of the members for resisting eviction. The Finnish Embassy has represented the interests of the Soviet Union since relations between Israel and Russia were ruptured during the Six-Day War.
The JDL militants said they staged the invasion in response to this morning’s news of a renewed wave of trials against Jews in Russia, especially that of Vladimir Markman, the Soviet activist who went on trial yesterday in Sverdlovsk on charges of hooliganism and engaging in anti-Soviet propaganda. One of the JDL youths rang the Embassy bell, and as the door was opened, all 30 pushed their way in, declaring they intended to remain in the office until Russia discontinued the trials.
In another JDL development, Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the JDL, now residing in Israel, announced the establishment of a Jewish Identity Center in Jerusalem, a school which he said was designed for foreign youth instructors to teach JDL principles to other youths upon returning to their country. Rabbi Kahane also told a news conference that some 22 young people from the United States and Canada between the ages of 17 and 22 would take part in the first course, to be held in Jerusalem. The curriculum will include Jewish history, the Holocaust, Jewish “Resistance,” and Zionism and “Hebrew Power.” Kahane also said the JDL plans to start a course for Israeli youth shortly.
Gen. Chaim Laskoff, former Israeli Army Chief of Staff, has been named ombudsman for the Army, He will deal with complaints by or against servicemen, and military institutions.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
